1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to powered brushes associated with vacuum cleaners.
2. Description of Related Art
Vacuum cleaners come in a variety of forms, generally upright or canister. Powered brushes are found on most modern upright vacuums and many canister vacuums have powered heads that include a driven brush. The driven brush can be important in lifting debris off of a surface so that it may be sucked into the vacuum cleaner, as opposed to just staying attached to the surface being cleaned.
Vacuum cleaners are known to have a problem with being loud. Excessive noise can be irritating to the operator of the vacuum and others in proximity. Therefore some manufacturers have worked to reduce the noise of then vacuum units. As they have reduced the noise of the motor and suction aspects of the vacuum the noise created by the brush drive has become more noticeable. Brush drive systems typically us belts rather than chains or gears. These belts are typically simple square toothed belts because such belts ensure that the brush is spinning at the designed speed without slippage, but the loads are well within the torque limits for such belts. These square toothed belts are reasonably quiet, but their noise is more noticeable with a modern vacuum cleaner.
A need exists, therefore, for a quieter brush drive for use with vacuum cleaners, but without diminishing the performance of the powered brush.
All references cited herein are incorporated by reference to the maximum extent allowable by law. To the extent a reference may not be fully incorporated herein, it is incorporated by reference for background purposes and indicative of the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art.